User blog:Willbachbakal/Multiplayer Plasmids
In the current multiplayer, Plasmids are mostly fun tools to use. However, if there is to be a sequel, a few changes need to be made. One could also add more Plasmids. This blog post will cover both. First of all, changes I think should be implemented to the current Plasmids: *'Charging Plasmids for more than six seconds should discharge them on the user.' This is because a lot of people keep running around with a fully charged Electro Bolt, Winter Blast and especially Incinerate!, and then cast it at the next random person they see. Not fun. *'Control- and vision-impairing Plasmids are ineffective against the same user for four seconds after the effects end on them.' This is mainly to discourage Electro Bolt/Insect Swarm spam, but also to make the game more fun in general. Crowd control is very tricky to handle in a first-person shooter, and in the original multiplayer mode players could empty their EVE bar for an unavoidable four-second stun, enough to kill anyone without them being able to retaliate. *'Plasmids save their own individual cooldown.' For the same reasons as above, this is to avoid spam, as Plasmids provide powerful effects that are meant to turn fights around. In the singleplayer it's fine to not have cooldowns on Plasmids, since you're up against waves of enemies, but in the multiplayer each individual player is meant to be strong in their own right, and killing someone just because you emptied your EVE bar as quickly as possible on them does not make for fun gameplay. *'Slightly change the way Electro Bolt works.' Now, I'm not talking about anything too drastic, just a few changes so that it reduces frustration and allows the victims to have a fighting chance (I'm thinking of those people who run around stunning people and shooting them with the Elephant Gun. It's not fun if you're on the receiving end). The new Electro Bolt, although it still freezes enemies in place, allows the victims to turn around. On the other hand, any melee damage they receive is doubled, which can mean a one-hit kill with the appropriate weapon. *'Players hit with Incinerate! get a speed and weapon rate-of-fire boost for the duration of the Plasmid's effects.' This was promised before the game came out, but for some reason it wasn't implemented. Since Incinerate! is just a damage-dealing Plasmid that gets spammed pretty often, it needs some sort of deterrent. *'Killing an enemy by touching them after being set on fire earns the player kill points.' This is for two reasons: First, it'll further discourage Incinerate! spam at close ranges. Second, it'll reward the player for using a smart tactic. *'Players hit with Insect Swarm get a damage boost for the duration of the Plasmid's effects.' Same reason as the above: people just throw this Plasmid around, and it usually gets people killed pretty easily. Also, blinding your enemy in the middle of combat isn't exactly fair play... *'Using a Plasmid to help a teammate gets you assist points (+5 ADAM).' Examples include using Incinerate! to thaw a frozen friend, Winter Blast to douse a teammate in flames, charging a friendly Geyser Trap with Electro Bolt. Most people don't even know it's possible to do this, and those who do ususally don't bother, since it'll only waste some of their EVE. Putting this in will increase strategic depth, as well as promote cooperation. *'Friendly Geyser Traps glow green.' This is because currently, Geyser Traps are the same regardless of the team you're on. This means you end up wasting time and ammunition to check if the Trap's friendly or not. *'Geyser Traps take about a half-second to deploy.' This is to discourage players from just spawning one directly under their enemy's feet, which makes for cheap one-hit kills under low ceilings. Although it would still be possible to juggle enemies with this Plasmid, it would require more strategic planning. If I come up with anything more, I'll post it in the above section. Now, onto the Plasmids. Note: Unlike the singleplayer, these do not have upgrade trees. This is because players having more powerful weapons than the others in the same match isn't cool. 1) Electro Bolt: Nothing new here. Unlocked from the start. 2) Winter Blast: Same. Unlocked from the start. 3) Incinerate!: Same as the above two. Unlocked from the start. 4) Big Daddy Roar: A new one. This works pretty much like in the singleplayer: you let out a roar which blurs the vision of all enemies around you for a short time. On the downside, you stand still while roaring. An ideal initiation tool. Unlocked at Rank 3. 5) Aero Dash: Same as before. Unlocked at Rank 6. 6) Geyser Trap: Back again. Unlocked at Rank 9. 7) Security Bullseye: Now, this is new to the multiplayer. In my version, machinery plays a larger role, so there'll be Turrets, Security Cameras and Security Bots. Hitting an enemy with the Plasmid will cause all nearby neutral or hostile machinery (hostile to the one firing the plasmid) to attack the enemy for a short time, regardless of whether they hacked the device or not. Unlocked at Rank 13. 8) Houdini Plasmid: Back as well. Unlocked at Rank 16. 9) Insect Swarm: Also makes a return. Unlocked at Rank 19. 10) Chrono Warp: For those who don't know what it is, here's my blog article on it. The only change to this is that after the victim gets slowed down (in terms of both speed, rate of fire and bullet/projectile speed. The slowdown is more powerful than Winter Blast's, although the victim doesn't receive additional damage from attacks), they get sped up, i.e. their speed and rate of fire will be roughly doubled for the next few moments. Unlocked at Rank 23. 11) Sonic Boom: Thought it could go in. Casting the Plasmid will fling any enemy in front of you at close range back and into the air. Can also reflect back and/or push away projectiles and physics objects. Doesn't deal any damage on its own. Unlocked at Rank 26. 12) Telekinesis: Thought it needed to be the last Plasmid to get unlocked as it's the most versatile one of all, and requires good knowledge of each map's layout. Unlocked at Rank 29. NEW: Just had this idea: what if player could be able to combine two Plasmids together to make a new one?' Wouldn't it be awesome if you could tinker with your Plasmids at your Gene Bank like a mad scientist, create new combinations and actually be able to use them in multiplayer matches? Stay tuned for the full list of possible Plasmid combinations, all 66 of them. And that concludes the Plasmids section of the multiplayer. Thanks for reading, and your opinion is always appreciated. Post away. Back to the Hub. Category:Blog posts